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Funny thing about this book, I actually started reading the second book in the series first, I'll talk about that one in just a few days, but I decided that it would be smart to read them in order, so I got this one from the library really quick and stopped reading the other book. Desi is just a normal, everyday girl. She will be going into the 8th grade soon, she has a job at the pet shop at the mall, and she has some ex-best friends that are now enemies. She's working at the pet shop one day, dressed in a great big gopher head, when she sees her crush Hayden flirting with her ex-best friend Celeste. This is terrible enough, but then Hayden and Celeste come over to where she is standing and Celeste figures out that it's Desi under the head and unmasks her in a most embarrassing way. Desi's not sure why, but she seems to be invisible, almost like...vapor. She is pretty depressed and not sure what to do, so she makes a wish on some fish and the next thing she knows ther…

Jayda, also known as Jane in her small town of Blackbird Hill, is returning after 16 long years. She ran away right after high school to be a Hollywood star and she had some minor success, but now her aunt Leora is moving to a retirement home and someone, Jayda, needs to stay in the old home that was built by the pioneers that settled the valley. They also need to save the home from the developers who want to turn the whole thing into one of those developments that you always hear about that will kill the wonderful small town. Unfortunately, Jayda has no idea how to go about this. But with her dog, Tarzan, she's going to try to figure it out. She knows that she will need a lot more help than just her trusty dog, however, she knows that she will need to enlist the help of all the willing townspeople, but she needs to figure out just who's willing first. With the help of Smoot, a little boy who just wants to be loved, Lee, her old boyfriend and Smoot's uncle, and her ex husb…

Today we have a blog hop, so fun! I am going to be giving away a signed ARC (Advanced Readers Copy) of the Janitors by Tyler Whitesides, it's brand new, as far as I know never been opened except to be signed. I thought that it would maybe be a good idea to read it first. So, I pulled out the hardback copy that we were able to also get signed. This is one of our 11 year-old's very favorite books right now, she's read it twice just since we won it in September. Spencer is just a normal 6th grader. He goes to school and is bullied by the class bully and he goes home and tries to clean the home that they are living in (he's a bit of a neat freak, and his family is definitely not!) Right now his family is living in his Aunt Avril's house in the wealthy subdivision of a small town in southern Idaho. They live there, because Spencer's dad left them to work on a job and he never came back. One particularly disastrous day, school is going along as normal when Spencer f…

I wasn't so sure about this book, it has kind of a goofy title for one thing. For another thing it's based on a movie, which doesn't seem like it would be a wonderful thing, especially considering I've never even heard of the movie. But, it did have one good thing going for it, it's written by Elodia Strain. I've loved both of the books that I've read that were written by her (The Icing on the Cake, and Previously Engaged.) They were both hilarious, if you haven't read them you should! Anyway on to the review! You first meet Ethan in this book, he's a writer, currently working on screenplays, but none of them are really working for the movie people. Next we meet Jesse, and the whole rest of the book is from her perspective. Jesse is 31 years old, divorced and she works in a little coffee shop. Her boss, Magda, is trying to get her to date more, so she comes up with all of these crazy rules about what Jesse can wear, and how to treat the male custome…

Evie is all settled in as a normal girl in school. She's chosen to use the last name of Green, Lend's dad, David, is her guardian and she lives with Arianna above the diner where she coincidentally works. She loves school, especially having a locker, except for PE, Evie is not really a sports girl and the teacher is kind of a beast. Her best human girl friend, Carlee, tries to help, but sometimes that makes things worse for Evie. As she's lying on the grass trying to recover from the beating she took during the PE soccer match, Evie notices a strange cloud that seems to have lightning bolts shooting in it. She thinks it's kind of odd, but doesn't have time to worry about it before her next class. Only she doesn't get to stay for all of her next class, she's called to the office to be checked out by her "aunt." Her aunt turns out to be Raquel, her old boss and the closest thing to a mother Evie has ever known, Raquel has known that Evie's alive…

Laura's family is moving from their house in the Big Woods of Wisconsin, it's gotten too crowded in the Big Woods. Pa sells their home, they pack up what they can take in the wagon and leave what they can't in their house, pile into the wagon and the little family of five is off on a grand adventure into the Indian country of Kansas. There they will build a new life, starting with a new house. They love their new home on the prairie, but of course things aren't always wonderful. There are Indians, scary animals, diseases and lots of mosquitoes. I love these childhood classics. I just finished reading this book with our 5 year-old. She is just loving reading about "Mary and Laura." These books are so fun to read with or to have children read. They are taught about life in pioneer times without our modern conveniences of cars, video games, indoor plumbing etc.

Rikki Crockett has come home to Spanish Fork, Utah after a very long absence, she ran away from her hometown 20 years ago when her then boyfriend, Dante, went on a mission and she hasn't been back since. Part of that was her abusive father. Now she's returned, partially because her father has since died and left her the home that she grew up in and part of that is that she needs to find a future for her 2 children, 13 year old Kyle and 7 year old James. As she attends her LDS ward for the first time in a very long time, she realizes that things have changed. She's forgotten how modestly they dress and also the Bishop of her ward is none other than Dante. Dante is not quite sure what to think of Rikki's appearance, he's very much in love with his wife Becca and their 4 children, even as he's very busy being the Bishop of his childhood ward. Becca's just confused. She instinctively knows that Rikki meant a lot to Dante, but it's obvious that neither of th…

The last few of Traci Hunter Abramson's books have focused on the Saint Squad, this one is a totally new story. Kendra is a popular pop singer, her dad is an actor, so Kendra's used to being in the spotlight and used to having the security to go with the spotlight. She's finally out on her own, mostly, her dad still insists on her using one of his security people as a guard. She's almost finished with her latest tour, only two shows to go, when a bomb explodes at her concert. She's really not sure what happened or why, but she does know that she doesn't want her dad to overreact and send her more security guards, which is exactly what he tries to do. Kendra calls her grandfather, a former FBI agent, asking for his protection. He offers to help and sets her up with a cabin in the mountains and an undercover FBI agent living right across the street. She doesn't know that Charlie is and FBI agent, they seem to have a lot in common, they're both LDS and the…

This is the second book in Rick Riordan's popular Heroes of Olympus series. This whole series follows the Percy Jackson series and if you haven't read that series you definitely should! Book one of the Heroes of Olympus series is told from the point of view of Jason, while this book is told from the point of view of Percy. Percy has lost his memory, he isn't sure why monsters keep chasing him to try to kill him. He really isn't sure why after he kills the monsters they reform and try to kill him again. He isn't sure why, but he feels like he really needs to be in San Francisco, maybe it's because he is more powerful in the water. He arrives at a camp in San Francisco for half-bloods, but it doesn't feel familiar to him at all. Percy only remembers one thing from his past life, Annabeth. He knows that she's his girlfriend, but he has no idea where she is or how to find her. At Camp Jupiter Percy makes some new friends, Hazel and Frank. They both have the…

Jason F Wright is one of my favorite authors and with the release of The Wedding Letters, I knew that I needed to re-read The Wednesday Letters so the sequel would make sense! Jack and Laurel Cooper run a quiet little bed and breakfast in the Shenandoah valley. They have 3 kids Matthew, Samantha and Malcom. Jack is fighting a losing battle with brain cancer and Laurel is taking care of him and all the needs of their B&B and worrying about all their kids, especially Malcom, their youngest. One night after a grueling day Laurel gets into bed next to Jack and before either of them realizes what's really happening she dies. Jack, thinking he was going to be the one to go first, gets out of bed and writes a letter that he tucks into the Bible with a few others before he too gets into bed and dies with Laurel, his arms around her. This all happens in the very first chapter and the rest of the book deals with how those that knew them best take the news that this wonderful and loved c…

Yi Jichun (Jason in English) is an American attorney, he does have Chinese ancestry so that makes him an ideal choice for him to be an undercover agent in China. He's supposed to be uncovering corruption in the Chinese court system and decides to take a little trip to Hainan Island. He's having a great time playing tourist when he runs across an oddity, a computer with a strange symbol in a hut in a cultural village where you wouldn't imagine a computer would be kept. What really shakes him up is when the expensive camera that he took a shot of the computer with disappears from his hotel room right after he's taken it. He flies home as scheduled, minus camera, but his flight is really late and he really doesn't want to wait for it. So he books a flight to a slightly different destination and is floored the next morning when the news reports that his original flight had crashed in route. I didn't not like this book, but I was kind of confused by it, especially i…

Mickey Bolitar is a normal high school boy. Except for the fact that his dad was killed in a car accident, his mom is in rehab so he has to live with his estranged uncle, and his girlfriend Ashley disappeared mysteriously. He's not sure what to do about Ashley, but he tries to be as supportive as he can for his mom and to sort of get along with his uncle. One morning he's walking to school past Bat Lady's house when she appears at the door and yells at him to tell him that his dad is still alive. Bat Lady is the crazy old lady of the town. Mickey is really confused by this, since he was with his dad when he died so he tries to get her to answer her door and explain what she meant by that comment, but the door goes unanswered. Mickey is confused about that comment, but knows that life must go on and he really feels that he needs to find out what happened to Ashley, especially when there's no trace of her at the people who are supposed to be her parents house and her mom…

Dr Erin Cross is a very driven research specialist. She's in the middle of making a vaccine that would literally change the world. First she needs to eat some lunch. While she's in a small deli eating a sandwich, she gets some strange texts. They come from no number and they keep saying things like "You'll be dead in 60 seconds." Just when she thinks she's figured out who they're from a lone gunman comes into the deli and starts shooting. He kills several people and injures more before taking his own life. Erin and the others in the deli are saved by Sean Flannery, a former Marine. Things for Erin go from bad to worse, when on her way back to work she realizes that she's being followed, she's still getting the scary texts and the guard at the door of her company is shot while she's trying to get into her office. She's really not sure what to expect when she goes home to her condo, but she finds it in shambles and knows she's got to get…